A Japanese Shinto ceremony will take place at Fordham Abbey this Friday to mark the construction of the UK’s first sake rice wine brewery.

The Jichinsai ceremony, which is a traditional part of Japanese culture, is believed to purify the ground of a building site prior to the laying of foundations.

It is also used to pray for the safety of construction workers on the site.

Attendees overseeing the ceremony on Friday morning will include the new Japanese Ambassador to the UK, Mr Tsuruoka and Lucy Frazer MP.

The brewery will be built within the historic grounds of Fordham Abbey’s Georgian manor house, where there are also plans for an education and visitor centre.

It was announced on Monday that local company, Patrick Doyle Contractors have been awarded the contract for the build.

Mr Yoshihide Hashimoto, owner of the Dojima Sake Brewery UK & Co said: “It was always our intention to use a local contractor for the build so we are very happy to be working with Patrick Doyle Contractors and are very excited to see the work commence.”

Finance Director,Mark Doyle, added: “To be working on such a prestigious project is an honour, but importantly it is in our local area, so we can use local companies and local people and bring to life the Hashimoto family’s priority of investing in the local economy.”

The Grade Two listed, 200 acre Fordham estate near Newmarket was bought by the Hasimoto family in March last year at a cost of £3.5m.

Now building work is set to commence after the development was given the green light by East Cambridgeshire District Council last August, after almost nine months of preparation.

Scheduled to open next summer, the £8.9m the Dojima Sake Brewery will be the first of its kind in the UK and is set to create around 100 jobs in its first five years.

The Cambridgeshire site was selected by the company after the UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), and the Japanese Government, helped to establish the company and identify potential sites.

Lucy Frazer MP said:“The Dojima Sake Brewery’s decision to open its first UK branch in Fordham is an endorsement of our region. I am delighted that the Department for International Trade has highlighted Cambridgeshire as an area to invest in by directing the company to their Fordham site, and I look forward to the opportunities it will bring to the area.”

The Hashimoto family said they chose the Fordham site as it was near to where one of their children attends school.

Once up and running the family run company estimate being able to produce 10,000 bottles in the first year, achieving a turnover of £1m before exporting into Europe.

Speaking earlier this year project manager Noriko Tomioka said: “In that same building we will have the visitor experience so visitors can be taught how to make sake and enjoy sake.”

The Dojima Brewery Company was founded in Osaka Japan in 1996, following a 600 year old tradition of brewing the alcoholic drink made from water fermented rice.

Rice will be specially imported from a Japanese farm owned by the wife of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, while water will be naturally sourced from a bore hole on the estate.

The Jichinsai “ground breaking” ceremony is set to take place on October 28 at 11am.